selinux??

[Eddie G. O'Connor Jr.]

On 01/24/2016 10:17 PM, Tim wrote:
> Tim:
>>> I am always amazed that people think shutting off a security
>>> something-or-other for some-amount-of-time can be considered safe.
>>>
>>> It takes virtually the blink of an eye to get compromised.
>>>
>>> If you need to turn off a security feature to do something, then there's
>>> something wrong with that /thing/ that required it.  It could simply be
>>> crap programming, or it could be malicious.  And even crap programming
>>> can be destructive outside of its own files.
>
> bruce:
>> really???
> Yes.
>
> If you're on an ISP, or a compromised LAN, you may find that there's
> continual port scans and attacks.
>
> I watched a friend get his box hacked four seconds after establishing a
> network connection.  He had to re-install to fix the problem.  Same
> thing happened the next two times he connected up.  I just about wet
> myself laughing.  It took him three hacks before he wised up that he
> needed to run protective software all the time.  Drop your guard for a
> second (or at least a few seconds), and that's enough.
>
> By default, most things work like they're supposed to on Linux.  If you
> serve out HTML from the normal filepaths, it serves.  There is, or was,
> a GUI configurator for toggling SELinux permissions for certain services
> that it's considered you ought to know what you're doing before you do
> them, that's just as easy as similar configurators for enabling
> services.  e.g. There's a list, and you'd find HTTPD, or NFS, in it...
>
> I'd go as far as to say that if you have no idea about how to run a
> service, such as email or httpd, what it does, how it does it, how it
> can be compromised, how to enable it, how to set up the firewall for it,
> etc., then you have no business trying to run such a service.  You'd
> better learn how to do it on an isolated LAN.  The world is replete with
> spam, scams, hacks, etc, that affect everybody, because some dimwit made
> it easy for them.
>
>
>
>> I haven't met a lot of people in my 30+ years of tech who just gloss
>> over the impotance of security..
> I have, unfortunately.  And I see a lot of people who do on this list or
> forums.  You can recognise them by the ones that when either dealing
> with a problem, or the installing a system, the first things they do are
> turn off SELinux and firewalls.
>
I don't even understand SELinux that much, but I would never disable it 
UNLESS it was running on an isolated network or a box that I wanted to 
"sacrifice". Surely its there for a reason. (And I've heard people give 
all kinds of excuses when it comes to shutting it off, from "Its the 
NSA's baby"....to "You don't need to run it".)....weird....because in 
the world of Windows?....no one....and I mean NO ONE would think of 
running a Windows box without SOME form of protection, regardless of 
whether its on an isolated LAN, or connected to the world!.....if 
anything they would run MULTIPLE security apps/suites to cover the holes 
of the others! I guess its just a mindset you either have or don't?...


EGO II